Thursday, January 28, 2016

Engaging Students With Music: Free Flocabulary Trial

Well, after 5 snow days in a row, we are back to school tomorrow.
A friend sent me this video of Ron Clark dancing with his students to get me charged up and motivated. It did the trick and I had to share it.

What an amazing teacher and what a thrill it would be to teach at his academy.

It is possible that I would pay him to allow me to work there, that's how much I respect what he is doing.

I think what I admire most about him is his dedication and determination to help all students, not just those who are easy to teach. He will do anything and everything to get them to learn. In a recent interview, he talked about how important it is to find a way to connect with students on their terms, on their level. He says music is one way to make that connection.

I get that,..music has a way of engaging even the hard to reach student. I know it because I've seen it work. We sing a lot in my class. We make up jingles and songs to help us remember math, social studies and science content. I'm also a big fan of a program called Flocabulary. It's is a web-based learning program that uses educational hip hop music to teach students and increase achievement. My third graders absolutely love it. I use the Flocabulary songs and corresponding materials to teach and reinforce language arts skills like parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms and even reading skills and strategies like making predictions and inferences.

They also have great songs to use as you teach math skills. We are using the multiplication songs now to help students develop their speed and accuracy with the math facts.

Interested in try it out? Flocabulary is offering up a special free 75 day trial. You can sign yourself up, your teammates and your entire school.